In the dead of night I watched them scatter, to where and why I do not know. All I know is that something was coming, and it will be worse than the Last Time. Let us say about two or three months earlier, on the tenth of November Mr. Harry Potter and Mrs. Ginny Potter, The expert Aurors had just begun solving a new case, they left home, promising the kids to back by the first creak of sunlight. But in the morning the kids found their parents to be missing. But the Potter kids sat waiting with full faith that they might return now or the next moment. When their parents didn't return even after two days, they were taken to live with their Uncle and Aunt, whom they had never met in their life. It was not Ron or Hermione. Their Uncle and Aunt were too glad to have the kids to bring up as their own. As the days went by, people started to lose hope of the Potters returning. But the kids waited each and every day in hope that someday or some time, their parents might return. After the Ministry learnt of their disappearance, the Ministry thought that the only way to find the Potters was to use James Sirius as an undercover agent and get James to sneak around the prime suspects' territories.

The ten year old Lilly Luna sat sulking in the corner of her room in "Grimmauld Place" for it was the day or may be the last day that her two years older brother, Albus Severus and she were going to see their elder brother, James Sirius, for the year or may be for their entire life. James, the Potter sister and brother's elder brother had been appointed as an undercover agent working for the Auror department in secrecy. Though he was just fifteen years old, he had been taken for a very serious and dangerous mission for the Wizarding World. The plan was basically that, since James was so young, there were very scarce chances of him being suspected.

"Lily! Lily! Lily! Come out where ever you are!" called James as he was just ready to leave.

"I won't! You are leaving me alone and going, aren't you? You hate me!" called back Lily, fighting back the tears which had welled up behind her eyelids.

"Hey Lily, it's not like that, it's just that I have waited this long for our Mum and Dad to return and they haven't. So I just have this iny tiny bit of hope, that if I get to the bottom of the case that they were working on, I might be able to find them" said James

"But, what if you don't return too?" asked Albus frightfully.

"Faith, patience and determination is all you need, to reach your goal. Never let despair take over you, wait patiently for the perfect moment to do things and everything will be perfectly all right in the end." Encouraged James

Just then Lily came running out and flung at James, hugging him like a little monkey.

"You promise to return, don't you bro?" asked Lily and Albus in unison.

"Swear" he replied.

James kissed good bye to his little brother and sister and walked down the dusty lane without looking back over his shoulders, the way he had gone. Just by seeing the way he walked, you could say he was determined in what he was doing.

Days went by in the Grimmauld Place and everything was going smoothly. The brother and sister had got used to not having the company of James. Don't forget the fact that it was holidays for Albus so obviously he was home too. But whatever it is one can never forget people whom you share your blood with can you?

Lilly Luna exclaimed with realization, "Whoa! Hasn't it been a month since James left home?"

"Oh dear, it has!" said Albus.

"Do you think we ought to inform the Ministry?" mused Lily

"No, he asked us to wait patiently with faith and determination and he even swore that he will return to us someday or the other." said Albus remembering what James had said on the day he had left them.

After quite a bit of arguing, they agreed to wait for a few more days. Their Uncle and Aunt were anxiously keeping a watch on their movements, because they thought or rather acted as if they had no more strength in them to afford to lose any other family member just like that. First it was their Brother and Sister-in-law and then it was their nephew. They had been dreading the day for the brother and sister to ask them to let them go and search for their lost family.

Alas! Their dreadful day came very soon indeed. One evening when the rain was pouring to its fullest, Albus came downstairs and asked their Uncle and aunt whether they should inform the authorities about the disappearance of their brother too. But his Uncle was too much concerned to ask the authorities for help, as he feared that the authorities would use these two kids as undercover agents as well.

But Albus was not the kind of boy to sit cozily at home and wait for his family to return. He had already made a backup plan, he had not intension of getting Lily mixed up in this as well, but seemingly, it appeared that he had to reveal his plans to his sister as well. When Albus went to Lily's room, upstairs, he knocked on the door softly and made plans in there. Their conversation was something like this… (In whispers)

Knock, knock,

"Who's there?"

"Albus"

"Come in"

"Umm…Lil, I guess it's time…for us to go in search of James, it has been enough of days since we have waited for him. Tonight, we have our friends party right? We both are going to say that we are going to the party but in real we have no intensions of going there and hanging out with all the guyz and gals, we are running away, go it?"

"But Al, didn't we tell Aunt that we are not going to the party? And if we do run away, where do we go? We don't even know where to start!"

"We can think about it, we can make up some tale"

"Won't they get suspicious?"

"Hey! I've got it! We can always say, we have changed our mind and are going to the party to take things off our minds for a while… and as for where to start…I think we should start at Diagon Alley, because, that is where brother said he was going first!"

"It's a great idea Em! What are you waiting for? Get packing! We are running, running, running away! Hahahahaha…"

"Hahahahaha"

Then after that they got busy packing, taking as many things as they would require, in their school bag packs, after emptying the books from their bag. Now came the real tough task, convincing their guardians! But the task was quite easy and did not appear to be complicated as they had imagined. Their guardians bought their plans quite too suspiciously, tirelessly easily. But the kids didn't mind it as long as it didn't come in their path of plans.

As the clock struck six thirty, the darkness pressing on the area with rain still pouring to its fullest, Albus and Lily wearing their rain coats, left home towards Diagon Alley and the North. They were just two tiny dark figures moving about on the street.

Albus had a good sense of direction so they never really got lost. I mean to say, not completely lost at least. Poor kids, what had they known, that Diagon Alley was nearly 150 kilometers north from their house? They travelled on foot, day and night.

Mornings, usually early, they would walk fast and cover as much distance as possible, and in the afternoon, when the sun was burning hot above their head, they would rest under trees and find farms nearby, from where they could buy, I repeat BUY and not steal food from the farm.

On the first morning since they had left home, they found a farm and freshened themselves up a bit and started back on their journey towards Diagon Alley and the North. Everything seemed to be going the way they wanted for the first two days. But everything never goes the way you want things always, does it? They nearly lost their way on the third day, they were travelling after dusk and they found themselves in middle of the thick woods. Unable to find their way out, they wandered deeper and deeper into the forest until when they could not tell which way was north and finally exhausted, fell asleep in a clearing, which seemed to have been used recently. When they woke up in the morning, they had minds of giving up hope of finding their way out or even reaching Diagon Alley. But something made them continue their efforts to travel and that was just the words their brother had said the day he had left. But the kids just kept the first part in mind and not the second part about waiting patiently for the right moment.

Had they only kept it in mind, they would probably not have found themselves in the midst of this jungle, not knowing which way to go right now. Probably their brother might have gone home too…only to find these kids missing… there were many possibilities and the kids surely had not chosen the best one. At random choice they started towards their right and soon found a small trail. Hoping that it would lead them somewhere, they started following it.

Meanwhile, in the Grimmauld Place, when the kids did not return after the party was over, Uncle and Aunt had immediately sent an owl to their friend's house and found out that Albus and Lily had not turned up for the party. After this bit of shock, they went down town to the Ministry and informed in the lost and found department… and sent out a private search party for the kids as well. The news made the Daily Prophet headlines as well…people had started talking things like – The Potter family is haunted because the family members are going missing one by one… Uncle and Aunt Beth unable to bear the humiliating talks about their family, left the locality, is what the people assumed and said later on…But the truth was something different, no one other than the family members knew.

Back in the woods, the kids following the trail had come into another clearing, which seemed to have been used recently too, for there were the marks of a campfire on the ground. A little to their left, they saw a small gap in the woods and immediately went to explore it. There they found a small camping tent, but it was locked and no was nearby. Thinking that this might be their only chance to get out of the forest with some help, they decided to wait for the owner of the tent to return. Walking for such a long distance had made them weary and they fell asleep waiting.

But after sometime, there was some noise coming from a little distance behind where they were, which seemed to have woken them. After two to three minutes, a dark tall and lean figure appeared and gasped in surprise! At the same time the kids gasped and almost screamed when they saw who it was! It was none other than their beloved brother James! After a lot of gaping, hugging and kissing, James seemed to have realized that the kids were alone and figured out that they had run away from home. First he scolded them and told them they had been really bad kids and they should not have run away. Then later on he explained to them why he was there instead of Diagon Alley. It so happened that the Ministry changed their minds of using James as an undercover agent and instead they put him on the illegal pouching of Unicorn for Their Blood case and had finished solving it and he had planned to leave for home the very next day. They had dinner and the kids told their tale as to how they had planned and how they survived the days just by remembering his last words to them before he left.

In the morning, they went to Diagon Alley at seven and caught the Knight Bus to Galley Street, where their Uncle and Aunt lived… When they reached Galley Street and went to their house, they found it locked. When enquired in the neighbor's they told them that their Uncle and Aunt had left the city.

The children decided to go back to their parents' house. When they went there, they found a surprise waiting for them there! Their parents were back home! After a lot of Oh My Gods and lecturing, Albus and Lily began their tale and when they had finished, their brother told them their tale and now it was the turn of their parents. The first thing their father told them was,

"We never left you. Well actually, there are no such Uncle and Aunt of yours. It was all the while us! We were in one of our Auror disguise, so that you would not be harmed. But you little ignorant kids ran away! You half spoiled our plan. The criminals are now in Azkaban probably the dementors sucking their soul out, but if only we had not acted as though we were lost, the criminals could have used you as a tool to keep themselves safe. "

"If only you had waited patiently, you would have not at all risked your life. Will you now at least promise us that, you will never in your life run away again and will wait patiently before jumping into conclusions?" asked Ginny

"Promise" replied the kids.

The happy family was reunited again with the most astonishing secret revealed and the most dangerous cases closed.

And readers REMEMBER ONE THING, never jump into conclusions without waiting and figuring out the problem. And also remember that each and every one has a great secret deep in them, you just have to WAIT for the right moment to know what it is. The secret mantra is always waiting with faith, patience and determination.